Content display devices such as smartphones, netbooks, gaming devices, PDAs, desktop computers, televisions, and laptop computers are now ubiquitous. A common and ongoing issue with these types of devices is power management. More specifically, these types of devices continue to deliver more advanced processing resources and communication systems that demand more and more power. And in addition, users have become accustomed to using content display devices more often, and grown accustomed to using them more often in connection with web browsing activity.
Display power on a computing device typically represents a significant portion of the overall power dissipation. In connection with traditional displays (e.g., TFT and CSTN displays), attempts have been made (especially in the context of mobile computing devices) to increase the perceived contrast while reducing power that is consumed by the backlight. For example, many techniques have been developed to provide adaptive backlight control that basically reduces the intensity of the backlights without severely impacting the visual quality of the image being displayed.
Display technology, however, is quickly transitioning to light-weight, better-performing, and more energy efficient organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, which do not use power-intensive backlighting. Nonetheless, OLED displays continue to be a substantial portion of the power that is utilized in a content display device. But existing power management techniques (e.g., backlight management techniques) are not applicable to OLED-type devices, and as a consequence, different techniques are necessary to reduce the power demands of OLED-type displays.